How to Use Your Frequent Flyer Miles

Nowadays I have heard other travel writers warn that it is a lot more difficult to convert our frequent flier miles into a ticket than it used to be. They are saying that it is more difficult to find tickets at a reasonable time or price than it used to be and that the airlines make it more difficult to use the frequent flier miles. I was wondering whether I would need to hold my breath while I struggled to find available tickets for my frequent flier miles. I had accumulated enough in one account and nearly enough miles in another frequent flier account for a ticket from two different airlines.

I did not have any difficulty in getting the tickets. One of the airlines is reputed by the travel writers to be the worst company to get a frequent flier ticket from. It was actually the easier of the two. So you ask, how did I do it?

First of all, I have always tried to approach my airline reservations with flexibility. As with the tickets I pay cash for, I put in an exploratory date for the original ticket search. Then I plug into either the web site's annual calendar search function or its "days before and days after the date chosen" search function and check through the entire year. I look for the best price, dates that will work with my itinerary, the times of departure and arrival, connecting cities and time intervals within the connections, so that I do not kill myself running between the gates.

I choose the best date or set of dates that will work for me. Then I look at the choices that are available on that date. Sometimes there is only one option. If the situation I'm going into will work with this option I choose it. If it is not workable I wait a day or two. Then I go back in and look again because the options can change. I keep looking until I find something that I can work with. The exception to this is when there is a special offer on frequent flier tickets with a deadline. Then I choose the best option I can find or wait for a better opportunity. I find out about specials on frequent flier tickets by being on all the airlines' emailing lists.

I have gotten frequent flier tickets with Northwest, Continental, Delta and US Airways. This time, I got my tickets through Delta and US Airways. The last frequent flier ticket I got was also from US Airways. I got that ticket in 2008.

I had enough frequent flier miles, on Delta, for the lowest priced frequent flier ticket. However, the best I could do was the lowest price ticket going out and the mid price ticket coming back, so I had to buy some more miles. The airline sells the frequent flier tickets in one direction at a time with a round trip ticket requirement. The price was still about one fifth of what I would have to pay for even a discounted cash ticket for the selected destination, which was Alaska. It was also a better price than the cash and miles tickets that some of the airline's used to offer.

My US Airways account needed some more frequent flier miles for the lowest frequent flier ticket, which I bought. This ticket was for California. It still cost about a third of what it would have cost discounted for the cash price. So, I figure that I came out doing pretty well on the two deals.

One of the things that really helps me is that I go to Belgium every year, usually in what is called the low season. The low season for Belgium is the time from mid January to early April when the discounted cash tickets can be from $470 to $660 and giving more mileage than a trip to Alaska.

But a discounted cash trip to Alaska even in a low time of the year can often cost around $750 or more. However, in frequent flier miles it can cost 60,000 to go to Belgium and 25,000 to Alaska. So it makes sense for me to pay cash for a ticket to Belgium and to save the frequent flier miles for Alaska.

Sources:

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/onepass/default.aspx

http://www.delta.com/skymiles/index.jsp

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/default.html